Christmas in the Tropics

I know entire hemispheres do it all the time, but I just can't get used to a warm Christmas. I mean, not for Singapore not trying to make it feel like the holidays -- they had these decorations up in early November, under the marketing campaign "Christmas in the Tropics":

(This woman on her cell is obviously not moved by Christmas in the Tropics.)


Though I think it's hysterical that the biggest lights display on Orchard Road (ie Shopping Centre Strip) is the Singapore Visitors Centre:


It's a valiant attempt across the board to Christmas it up, but it just doesn't do it for me. Lots of huge artificial trees are lit around town, but no pine smell. Lots of shopping and sales, but then again, that's what Singapore's like all the time. You hear Christmas music everywhere, although the instrumental version of "12 Days of Christmas" played religiously in the grocery store is not something I recommend you download. ("DA dadadada DA dadadada DA dadadada DA dadadada"...over and over.) The thing that kind of gets me in the spirit is my co-worker Melvin playing Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas" every day at 6pm, once we're allowed to access things like YouTube. There's something funny, charming and very Christmasy about watching a Malaysian man sing along to Mariah's holiday concert at his desk.

Christmas plans this year involve a vacation to Thailand -- Greg and I are hitting up Bangkok and Phuket (the beach), get back Xmas Day and then his parents come out to visit on the 26th. Speaking of family, we actually got to do Thanksgiving pretty traditionally this year -- the PiAers organized a full pot luck dinner, down to the stuffing, mashed potatoes, roast chicken (as close as we could get to turkey) and homemade apple pie. It was awesome, felt very homey -- half of us were slumped around the table with food comas by the end of it. Had a second Thanksgiving dinner at the American Club downtown with about 200 alum from various US colleges and their families. Again, the meal and company were great. I missed my family, but at least I had adopted family to celebrate with here.

Plus, I saw these guys play on the street on Thanksgiving Day. How can it get better than this?


Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone!

Keeping up appearances

Singapore is clean. Very, very clean. Disney World-esque, where the people who clean are friendly and happy and sweep the cracks of the walls at the subway station every day (not joking). It's really interesting architecture -- a mix of mega-skyscrapers, shophouses, British colonial homes w/ tin roofs, HDBs, Buddhist and Hindu temples, etc. Here are a couple pics of the area to give you an idea.

The view from Greg's apartment in a suburban neighborhood


The parliament building downtown, not to be confused with the American Embassy, which I thought was the state prison the first time I went by it.


Boat Quay, an expat/touristy area with a lot of river-side restaurants and bars


Pagoda Street in Chinatown, an outdoor market where I bought everyone's Christmas gifts this year -- surprise!


The Esplanade, another touristy area with a theater, also hosts a lot of water-side concerts. I call it Epcot.


That thing on the right is the Singapore Flyer, set to open in March. When it does, it's supposedly going to be the biggest "observation wheel" in the world, besting Britain's London Eye by about 30 meters. It's 42 stories high, and people ride in these immobile capsules the size of small buses. Just don't call it a Ferris wheel -- big faux pas.


A Hindu temple downtown (Chinatown, I think? can't remember), with a banner noting Deepavali, the Festival of Lights (a public holiday) in early November. Yes, it was also built on its side. (joke!)

The death of Mr. Bunny

Sad day last week -- Mr. Bunny died. I'll explain.

I live in the "heartlands" of Singapore, which, on an island the size of Chicago, means I live 30 minutes from downtown. (Distance is relative.) Most of Singapore is "the heartlands" with small neighborhoods and lots of HDBs -- government-owned apartment buildings that are anywhere from 10-20 stories high, where people hang their clothing to dry on poles out the window and pet bunnies are kept in cages outside the apartment. Since my roommates and I moved in, we've all made it a habit to acknowledge the rabbit outside the apartment downstairs when we're coming and going. Mark's the one who named him and stops to pet him. I give him a "Mornin' Mr. Bunny" head nod and "Hey bunny boy" on my way home from work. Darren takes a different approach -- faking a kick to see if Mr Bunny will flinch. He never does.

The thing with Mr Bunny is he was probably 110 years old. He was missing one eye -- he either lost a fight with a dog or went to 'Nam or something. He never, ever moved, at least not that anyone saw. He would either gnaw on his giant carrot, be hiding behind a flower pot or sit in his cage. Sounds like the most boring thing ever, right? But I kind of got obsessed with him -- he was my good luck charm (all of him, not just his foot). If I didn't see him in the morning, I'd be a little bummed. He symbolised everything about HDBs that I knew -- the personalities on display at the doorstep, whether through pets, plants, shoes, traditional Chinese banners, insence. You can hear your neighbors playing mah jong (a Chinese board game that resembles dominos and checkers) at all hours. Several generations of families live together or next door (kids live with their parents until they're married). It's a true neighborhood, something I didn't quite have in Brooklyn. Imagine someone keeping a bunny outside their door in NYC? People would call the Dept. of Health; they'd probably think it was an especially furry rat.

So one day last week I noticed Mr Bunny wasn't outside. Two days went by -- no bunny. Then there was the day his cage was gone. It felt like my pet rabbit had died.

I mean, I've moved on. I still go to work. :) But part of me hopes that when I come home one day, there'll be a new cage outside their door.

Photo diary

Didn't do so well with that "one blog post a day for a week" commitment. Le sigh. Going to compensate by showing you pictures of me making an ass of myself instead.


Here I am with the roomies, hanging out in our apartment in Serangoon -- which I affectionately call "The Goon" -- getting ready for our first night out together. Going out means clubbing around here: big, glowing, thumping, fog machine- and Kylie Minogue-heavy clubs. Not quite used to that, since I'm more of a pub, beer and peanuts-on-the-floor girl, so I need to be persuaded a bit.


A few drinks and one slightly offensive pose later, I'm ready to go. Did not wear hat out to club.


Princeton in Asia: Chris '03 and I hang out at Mark's bday party at Zouk.


Greg and his roommates/fellow PiAers


Here I am outside my office building in Chinatown -- it's a street of old shophouses with tin roofs, colorful shutters, etc. Really cool area w/ great food.


This is over at East Coast Park, where you can rent rollerblades and go a couple miles up and down the shoreline.


Greg hadn't rollerbladed in a decade or so, so I was impressed that neither or us wiped out or took down any small children on the path (there were a lot -- rollerbladers, joggers, and bikers all on the same route. Kind of Central Park on a Saturday afternoon).


Loosely translated: Don't feed the cats fish in East Coast Park. Or something like that.


And finally, the view a couple miles up the coast: check out the city's skyline. Nice, very nice.

More to come...

UPDATE: All photos of my first few days in Singapore.

First Days in Singa